The Privacy Threat From Always-On Microphones Like the Amazon Echo

[bilby]

My laptop camera is obscured; It has been ever since a recent online meeting in which one of my co-workers (in a different department and country) accidentally appeared in her pajamas to an audience that included several dozen people, including several members of senior management. She was under the mistaken impression that she was joining in 'Audio only' mode, while working from home in the late evening her time.

As I live in the sub-tropics, I have been known to attend such meetings wearing rather less clothing than she was*; Her embarrassment was severe, but I suspect that mine would be career ending were I to make a similar mistake.




















*Technically, wearing a wedding ring and a pair of spectacles means that you are not naked, but I doubt I would be able to persuade HR that this was a valid excuse.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

My laptop camera is obscured; It has been ever since a recent online meeting in which one of my co-workers (in a different department and country) accidentally appeared in her pajamas to an audience that included several dozen people, including several members of senior management. She was under the mistaken impression that she was joining in 'Audio only' mode, while working from home in the late evening her time.

As I live in the sub-tropics, I have been known to attend such meetings wearing rather less clothing than she was*; Her embarrassment was severe, but I suspect that mine would be career ending were I to make a similar mistake.




















*Technically, wearing a wedding ring and a pair of spectacles means that you are not naked, but I doubt I would be able to persuade HR that this was a valid excuse.

Yeah, that sort of slip-up wouldn't be that hard to make. My wife has made it multiple times talking with her relatives. (No issue of being seen, but that the connection will be a bit problematic in video mode.)

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

As someone in the tech industry, I absolutely do not want this kind of garbage in my home. I do not trust tech companies.. at all.

Even if nothing goes wrong, it's the principle of it.

All I can say, as someone who has recently earned Security + certification, is "of course, and anyone who disagrees with you is an idiot."

I even put a little piece of electrical tape over the built-in camera on my laptop.

What do you do about UEFI BIOS which, in case you did not know, runs on your laptop even when it is hibernating?

I was unaware and had to look into it. Well, the solution is obvious - use "power off" instead of "sleep".